Saving & Sending

Bible Passage: Acts 1:6-8

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

I wanna ask everyone in the room this morning what you and your family talked about most while you were growing up?

I remember we would always talk about God. My father never wasted a moment to teach us about Him and His love for us.

We spent hours talking about sports, specifically baseball. The Cardinals, pitching and the things I was working on to improve.

And you couldn’t live in our house and not hear about identity.

Hours of my life as a child until I was an adult were spent discussing what it means to be a Bartig.

Not just my parents but also my dad’s parents would frequently speak with me about what an honor it was to bear the last name “Bartig.” And part of that was teaching me what Bartig’s do.

Bartig’s do the right thing even when no one is watching

Bartig’s treat all people with dignity

Bartig’s tell the truth

Bartig’s finish what they start

I wanna ask you as we kick off this 4 week series… What does it mean to be a Christian?

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

To be saved by Jesus is to also be a new creature. New identity and purpose.

No longer belonging to the world but to Christ and called into His mission. And His mission is this…

Luke 19:10 ESV

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

To be a Christian is to join Jesus in His mission of Saving and Sending

BODY

The Bible records what we have come to know as the great commission 5 different times.

In all 4 of the gospels and in the book of Acts, which we will be looking at this morning.

The most notable is Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

But this morning, I wanna take a look at Acts 1

Jesus has risen, spent 40 days with his followers…

Acts 1:6–7 ESV

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

Jesus’ followers have come to Jesus with great expectation of what He will do now

We don’t know much of anything about what Jesus taught during His 40 days post resurrection.

But because of the question His followers ask Him, it can be assumed that it was probably a lot about the Kingdom that Jesus is building.

And Jesus says, “Guys, that is above your pay grade.” and then He says…

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

I have to think that Jesus answers this way very intentionally.

I wonder if Jesus knows that the mission won’t be taken seriously if they were given the timeline and the details up front. They might get lazy or apathetic.

I was watching the Cardinals the other day and the announcers were discussing this new phenomenon that is currently happening in MLB.

This season alone there have been three 100 million dollar + contracts given to players who have not even played an out in the big leagues.

One of the announcers made a really good point that teams need to be careful taking away the incentive for their young players to play hard and perform for their big pay day.

If Jesus wanted you to know His plan to return and make all things new, He would have told ya up front.

But He doesn’t wanna take our eyes off the mission.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

I really want you to sit in Jesus’ comforting words there…

You will be MY witnesses

He didn’t say, the Kingdoms witnesses or just witnesses of what I have done. But He sends us in His name and in His power.

He is Saving and Sending. Saving and giving us a new identity and then sending us to live with incredible purpose.

To be His witness is to venture out into a world that is lost yet being the one who has been found.

To be His witness is to be loved by your creator in a world that is starving for love

To be His witness is to belong to a God and a people while everyone else is longing to belong anywhere at all.

This is not to say that you are superior, but it is to say that to be His witness means you are blessed.

You are blessed and are sent to be a blessing

CLOSING

There is a really important part of this commission of Jesus that we really need to talk about before we close.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you

If you are going out to share Jesus with the lost in any other power than the Holy Spirit. then you are doing it in vain.

He is the power we possess to know who the people are that Jesus is drawing in and wooing

He is the power that we have to know what to say

Matthew 10:19–20 ESV

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

So many people don’t feel equipped to go and do what Jesus told you to do, but if you have been saved by Jesus, you have everything you need. You’re saved and sent.

As we close, we are gonna take just a small step toward reliance upon the Spirit.

Take the last song to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal 3-5 names of people who need Jesus or need to be invited to church.

as you leave, write those names down on that board in the lobby and we are gonna start praying for those names and that we would have the boldness to go and share with them about Jesus!

PRAY